


Is this the real life?

by DescendingAngel



Category: Hurts (UK Band)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-24
Updated: 2020-10-24
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:47:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,520
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27178096
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DescendingAngel/pseuds/DescendingAngel
Summary: It’s the beginning of the school year, Theo goes to a new class and to his surprise, he quickly makes a new friend who understands his love for chemistry and also likes football-or doesn’t he?
Comments: 4
Kudos: 2





	Is this the real life?

The bell rang as Theo struggled to find his classroom. He immediately regretted the decision to change classes this year. He was already familiar with his old class, but this new one? He only hoped it would be worth it. After all, the main reason for switching his class was that he wanted to feel accepted, but so far he just felt more stress rising up inside of him.

A glimpse of happiness sparked inside of him when his eyes found a door number 306. He sighed in relief and quickly walked to it, entering the class. This action caught everyone’s attention and all eyes landed on him. He didn’t like that feeling the slightest. The teacher was, thankfully, a little late and he therefore didn’t get in trouble for being late the first day already. 

Theo sat down behind a desk in the second row and explored the new room. There were many posters on the walls all around, but the ones that made his heart skip a beat were full of atoms, molecules and a variety of chemical formulas.

“Hey, don’t sit alone there. Come here.” A boy leaned over to Theo and invited him to sit next to him. 

He smiled and gladly accepted his offer. He continued to further examine the posters, chuckling at the ridiculousness of one sentence.

_ An atom is the smallest unit of ordinary matter that forms a chemical element. _

“Good morning, class,” the teacher interrupted his train of thoughts, “I’m miss Cantrill, as you may already know and I’ll be your chemistry teacher this year. I know this subject can be quite difficult and boring for some of you, but I hope we can make these lessons enjoyable and you’ll learn something useful. Don’t hesitate to ask any questions.”

“I got one.” Theo confidently raised his hand.

“Go ahead.”

“Why does the poster say an atom is the smallest unit? We already know it’s not quite the smallest one,” he said and pointed at the poster with the sentence that made his eyebrows furrow in confusion. 

“Well, those who wrote it didn’t count in the subatomic particles. Yes, they are even smaller than atoms, but only the atoms can create the element. Good question though...,” she gestured for Theo to say his name.

“Theo.”

“It was a good question, Theo. So, everyone else, remember this the next time you’ll be looking at these posters.”

The class nodded in agreement and she continued to talk about something neither Theo or the guy next to him paid attention to.

“You’re into chemistry?” The boy asked Theo, his name still remaining a mystery to him.

“Yes, it’s interesting to look into the depths of everything around us.”

“Gotta admit, you have a point there. I’m Adam by the way.”

“Theo.”

“You’re probably the first person I’ve ever met that likes chemistry.”

“Hey, I’m talking!” The teacher said and both boys apologised.

“It’s even more fun when you find someone to share that one valence electron with,” Theo whispered to Adam and chuckled. He didn’t quite understand his joke, but smiled as well.

Since it was the first day of school, they didn’t have many classes and went home before lunch hours.

“Theo!” Adam shouted after Theo, stopping him in the middle of the hallway.

“Yeah?”

“Are you going home?”

“Well, I don’t have any other plans.”

“We could go somewhere, if that’s okay with you. Do you like ice cream?”

“I do, but my lactose intolerance doesn’t.”

“Coffee?”

“That sounds better.”

Adam excitedly described a newly opened coffee shop in the town, using probably every synonym of the word beautiful. Theo enjoyed listening to him, mostly because he had found a friend. Someone, who understood him and talked to him. 

“What fascinates you the most about chemistry?” He shifted his full attention to Theo once again.

“To be honest, I have a special place in my heart for biochemistry. It’s almost unbelievable what our bodies are capable of. But I also find everything about atoms very entertaining.”

“You’re strange, but I like you.” Adam jokingly bumped Theo’s side and they both laughed together the rest of the way into the café.

When they entered, Theo immediately fell in love with the small, but cozy interior. He felt as if it was the cold November already and all he wanted at that moment, was to wear a big warm sweater and read books in front of a fireplace.

“What do you want?” Adam pulled him out of his head, as he got lost in his thoughts again. He looked at the barista waiting for his answer.

“Double espresso, please.”

“Is that all?” Adam asked and Theo just nodded in agreement. He was a simple guy, he didn’t need a fancy coffee with two different syrups, whipped cream on top and five different toppings.

“I’ll be there in a minute.” The barista smiled at him.

“Thank you.”

The boys found a nice place in the corner of the café and in a few minutes the coffee was on their chosen table.

“You didn’t want coffee?” Theo asked Adam when he saw the place where his coffee should be was empty.

“No, I actually had to cut off caffeine for a while. It didn’t make me feel very well.”

“Right.” He tried to pretend as if he understood him, but it still seemed strange. After all, it was his idea to come here.

During the next half an hour, Theo discovered Adam's passion-the piano. It grabbed his attention, because he really enjoyed listening to anyone playing the piano. He even created a playlist with his favourite piano music. He again experienced the feeling of being understood. They eventually found out more things they had in common.

“Are you going to watch tonight’s football match?”

“You bet I am! I could never miss something like this!”

They kept their eyes on each other, an unspoken question between them, but who would dare to say it out loud?

“Would you like to come to my house and watch it with me?” Theo finally asked.

“That would be awesome.”

They sent each other a smile and Theo quickly finished the rest of his coffee as the impatient person he was. They left the café and hurried to Theo’s house, both filled with excitement and happiness.

“Wow, you did all of this?” Adam asked as they entered Theo’s room, examining the models of structures of various molecules. Currently, he was holding a model of a molecule of glucose.

“It helped me to understand it better and it’s fun to make them.” Theo picked up a molecule model of sulfur, the first one he has ever made.

“I didn’t know you were this obsessed with chemistry.” Adam laughed, but he didn’t mean it in a bad way.

“Well, it’s all I have.”

Theo’s phone suddenly rang and interrupted their conversation.

“Hello?”

“Theo, darling, where are you?” Theo’s mother said, worry in her tone.

“I’m at home with a friend.”

“What friend?”

“Adam. We met today in class.” He looked at Adam and sent him a smile.

“Okay, just stay there. I’ll be home in a few minutes.” She sounded very distressed and Theo tensed up, scared that something bad happened to her.

“Mum, are you okay?”

“I am, darling. Don’t worry about me, just stay home, alright?”

“Alright.” He sighed and hung up.

“Is everything okay? I hope it’s not a problem that I’m here,” Adam said softly when he spotted the change in Theo’s mood.

“Yeah, it’s-it’s okay. Maybe she’s just having a bad day or something.” He threw the phone on his bed and grabbed Adam’s hand, pulling him out of the room.

“Come on, we can grab some snacks and get ready to watch the match.”

Together, they searched through the cabinets, picking out chocolate, crisps and everything else they found. They weren’t careful enough and the kitchen turned into a mess. There were packages of food all over the counter and Theo also managed to spill juice on the floor.

“Theo!” The door opened and Theo’s mum was standing there with a man Theo didn’t recognise.

“Hey, mum.”

“Honey, what are you doing?”

“Adam and I just wanted to get some snacks before watching tonight’s football match. He likes football too, mum, can you believe it?” Theo explained the situation to her with visible excitement.

“That’s great, darling, it really is.” Helen sighed and invited the tall man inside.

“Theo, this is doctor Robinson.” She introduced him.

“Are you sick? What happened? Did somebody die?” Theo got scared and anxious all of a sudden. 

“No, everything’s okay, don’t worry.” She forced a smile and tried her best to hold back tears.

“Okay, well, I’m just gonna watch the football match with Adam. Let’s go.” He gestured for Adam to come with him.

“How long has this been going on?” Doctor Robinson asked, watching Theo sit down on the couch and turning on the television.

“Since childhood,” Helen said, looking at her son talking to the thin air, her hope of Theo finding a real friend this time long forgotten.

**Author's Note:**

> Gonna be honest, this has been a very tough week for me and my head’s a mess, so that’s how this was created. I’ve had this idea for a while, but I didn’t know what was I supposed to do with it and eventually I just made it into a one-shot, so that all the unpleasing thoughts could leave me alone.   
> I hope you liked this unusual thing from me and thank you for reading <3


End file.
